Practice assistants in primary care in Germany – associations with organizational attributes on job satisfaction

Abstract

BackgroundJob satisfaction and organizational attributes in primary care teams are important issues as they affect clinical outcomes and the quality of health care provided. As practice assistants are an integral part of these teams it is important to gain insight into their views on job satisfaction and organizational attributes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the job satisfaction of practice assistants and the organizational attributes within their general practices in Germany and to explore the existence of possible associations.MethodsThis observational study was based on a job satisfaction survey and measurement of organizational attributes in general practices in the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Job satisfaction was measured with the 10-item ‘Warr-Cook-Wall job satisfaction scale’. Organizational attributes were evaluated with the 21-items ‘survey of organizational attributes for primary care’ (SOAPC). Linear regression analyses were performed in which each of SOAPC scales and the overall score of SOAPC was treated as outcome variables.Results586 practice assistants out of 794 respondents (73.8%) from 234 general practices completed the questionnaire. Practice assistants were mostly satisfied with their colleagues and least of all satisfied with their income and recognition for their work. The regression analysis showed that ‘freedom of working method’ and ‘recognition of work’, the employment status of practice assistants and the mode of practice were almost always significantly associated with each subscale and overall score of SOAPC.ConclusionsJob satisfaction is highly associated with different aspects of organizational attributes for primary care (‘communication’, ‘decision-making’ and ‘stress’). Consequently, improved job satisfaction could lead to a better-organized primary care team. This implication should be investigated directly in further intervention studies with a special focus on improving the recognition for work and income.

Primary care practice assistants’ attitudes towards tasking shifting and their perceptions of the challenges of task shifting – Development of a questionnaire

“…Unfortunately, there is no official database available to compare our sample with the whole population of primary care practice assistants in Germany. However, the distributions for gender, age, working hours and duration of employment in a practice obtained from our study through an online survey were comparable to those observed in other studies (Gavartina et al, ; Goetz et al, ).…”

“…The distribution was positively skewed with the exception of the “income” variable, which was right‐skewed due to the practice assistants’ low satisfaction. Other studies have also shown that non‐medical personnel report low satisfaction with income (Gavartina et al, ; Goetz et al, ). The relatively low factor loading of the “billable services” variable can be explained because, in contrast to other variables, billing services may not directly affect practice assistants.…”

“…The outcome quality levels of the phone and face‐to‐face interviews were comparable; thus, the results could be used in combination (Sturges & Hanrahan, ). The interview guide and the list of specific tasks were developed based on both the “training curriculum for practice assistants and other non‐medical assistants” published by the German Medical Association and the researchers’ personal experiences with studies on practice assistants (Gavartina et al, ; German Medical Association, ; Goetz, Berger, Gavartina, Zaroti, & Szecsenyi, ; Goetz et al, ). In addition to questions regarding practice assistants’ responsibilities within a medical practice, the questionnaire asked about tasks that were to be shifted to practice assistants, including whether these tasks represented a challenge in terms of the practice assistants’ workload.…”

Questionnaire for measuring organisational attributes in dental-care practices: psychometric properties and test–retest reliability

“…Additional to a quality‐management system is the description of organisational attributes, such as with SOADC, which seems important for achieving good quality of care. However, to our knowledge there is currently only one study that has used the instrument in primary care and the findings showed that job satisfaction is associated with ‘communication’, ‘decision making’ and ‘stress’. Further research in the field of organisational attributes using SOAPC or SOADC is needed, not only for primary care but also for dental care.…”

“…Job satisfaction consists of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as physical working condition, recognition of work, satisfaction with colleagues, remuneration and working hours. Moreover, it was shown that these different aspects are associated with different organisational attributes, such as 'communication', 'decision-making' and 'stress' 17 . The internal consistency of the job satisfaction scale was 0.873.…”